


Never Too Late

by Lynx22281



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha!Claire, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Happy Ending, M/M, Middle-Aged Destiel, Mpreg, alpha!Castiel, beta!Jack, betas are rare, birth defect, graphic birth, omega!dean, slight angst, ya'll know I don't do sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-14 19:35:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18058700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynx22281/pseuds/Lynx22281
Summary: Empty nesters Dean and Cas rekindle their romance now that they have the house to themselves.  By Thanksgiving, Dean notices changes to his body - missed heat cycles, hot flashes, dry channel, weight gain, vision changes, etc - and thinks he's in early menopause.





	Never Too Late

**Author's Note:**

> Holy crap! It's be almost TWO WHOLE YEARS since I last wrote something. This hit me out of the blue last Sunday morning. I typed up the notes one-fingered on my iPad while I was still in bed figuring that's as far as I would get, but then I spent the whole day writing! It felt so good! I struggled with the ending and decided to put it away for a week before finishing it up. A week later, the ending's not as terrible as I originally thought. 
> 
> I don't want to scare off any potential readers, so here's the warning about Jack's birth defect: In this universe, Jack's beta-ness is a sensory birth defect like blindness or deafness. He is born perfectly healthy except for the lack of a secondary gender, which causes him to be unable to scent. It causes some issues, but they are overcome.

On an early Sunday morning in late August, Dean and Cas stood at the top of their driveway watching Claire back her old gray Jeep Cherokee into the street with her best friend Patience in the passenger seat. The vehicle was bursting with all of the essentials a pair of 18-year-old girls needed for their freshman dorm room at the University of Kansas. Kansas City was just far enough from Lawrence to be away from home, but still close enough that daughter or fathers could get to each other quickly if needed. Claire was an alpha who preferred to stick relatively close to her own territory, but she did like to do things on her own without her parents hovering around. 

With Cas’s arm around his waist, Dean waved a teary goodbye to his only child. She had promised to call every night and to come home for dinner every Friday after her last class (that was the big advantage of going to college only 45-minutes away – she could have a home cooked meal early on Friday evenings and still make it back to campus in time to go out with friends). But still, their little girl was all grown up and about to start truly living her own life. 

“Well,” Dean started, rubbing roughly at his right eye. “Now what?” 

“The house is empty,” Cas offered suggestively as he leaned in close to nudge his nose along the column of Dean’s neck, inhaling the omega’s homey scent of vanilla and apples. 

Dean chuckled. “Horny, alpha.” 

They might as well take advantage of being alone again. He smacked Cas’s ass and took off up the porch steps, leading his husband on a chase around the island in the kitchen and over the couch in the living room before landing in the middle of their bed with a line of clothes trailing up the stairs behind them. 

***** 

Thanksgiving was probably Dean’s favorite holiday, even more so than Christmas. Thanksgiving was all about the food and nothing soothed his omega soul quite like seeing his family happily stuffed after a feast prepared by his own hands. 

The start of this Thanksgiving wasn’t quite going to plan. 

He woke up nauseous and sat on the side of the bed for several minutes before feeling well enough to drag himself to the bathroom without throwing up on the carpet. 

As usual, he planned to do all of the cooking himself, except for a few token side dishes that others had offered to bring. The turkey had been sitting in his secret recipe brine since Monday afternoon and was ready to roast. There were potatoes to peel and boil. Green beans to casserole. Rolls to knead, proof, and bake. Cranberries to sauce. Sweet potatoes to candy. Stuffing to stuff. Macaroni to cheese. Thankfully, he’d made the pies yesterday. 

While he brushed his teeth, Dean prayed to whatever deity might be on holiday duty that he wasn’t coming down with a stomach bug. He could be sick tomorrow, just not today. After showering and throwing on some jeans and his royal blue University of Kansas t-shirt, he felt a little better. 

But, when he got down to the garage fridge to get the turkey, he was blindsided with a hot flash that felt like he’d stuck his head in the oven. Puffing out a long breath, he leaned his forehead against the Impala’s cool metal roof. At most, it was 40 degrees out in the garage, so why was he so damned hot? 

“Hey,” Cas asked sleepily from the door leading into the house. The alpha looked wonderfully rumpled in his baggy plaid pajama pants and loose black t-shirt. He had quickly gotten back in the habit of sleeping and wandering around the house naked, but since Claire had come home Tuesday afternoon with her new friend Kaia, he had done the polite thing and covered up. “You ok?” 

“Yeah, just got hot.” He straightened up and fanned himself with the dish towel that had been hanging from his belt loop. 

Cas raised a brow. Dean rarely ever complained about being hot outside of a heat, and he hadn’t had one since June. They were both drawing very near to the time when heats and ruts wouldn’t be something they worried about any more. Cas’s rut last month had only lasted 24 hours and wasn’t nearly as intense as it had been just a year ago, but that was to be expected for a 44-year-old alpha whose omega was heading towards menopause. 

“Want me to get started on the rolls?” Cas asked after padding barefoot across the cold concrete to place a soft kiss to Dean’s temple. They didn’t talk much about the changes their bodies were starting to experience, but Cas could scent the low-grade melancholy of an omega coming to terms with the greatly declining possibility of more children. They had tried for more kids after Claire was born, but long ago they realized she would probably be an only child. 

Dean nodded, giving his husband a quick nuzzle to his exposed collarbone and taking in a breath of cinnamon and honey. “Yeah. I’ll get the turkey going.” 

A few hours later, they had a house full of loud, happy family – Sam, Eileen, and their brood of three (Jamie, Siohban, and Ian), Dean’s mom Mary and step-dad Bobby, Dean’s dad John, step-mom Kate, and half-brother Adam, Cas’s brother Gabriel, his wife Kali, and their two girls (Jameela and Kamilla), and Cas’s sister Hannah and their mom Naomi. 

Dean caught sight of Kaia standing by herself in the empty dining room while everyone else was congregating in the living room watching the last part of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. She was an alpha in a strange house surrounded by the scents of someone else’s territory and family. For the moment it seemed that Claire had abandoned her to squeal over Kamilla’s engagement ring. Dean smiled and motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen. “Sorry things are chaotic.” 

“No, it’s ok,” she said with a shy smile. “I’ve always wanted this sort of thing, but...it’s more than I expected.” 

Claire had shared with her parents that Kaia had aged out of the foster care system and didn’t have any family to spend her holiday breaks with, so could she _please, please, please_ have Thanksgiving with them? 

“Christmas will be a little less crowded,” Dean reassured with an unspoken invitation that made Kaia’s dark eyes light up as he handed her a bowl of mashed potatoes. 

Thanksgiving ended better than it began, though Dean did have to make an excuse to go elsewhere a couple of times - once during dinner when he was hit with another hot flash and a second time during the football game when he was suddenly so sleepy that he just needed to crash on his bed for fifteen minutes. 

***** 

At the beginning of December, Dean sat in one of the tiny exam rooms of Lawrence Family Medicine for his annual physical. 

“So, how’s it goin’?” Benny asked after he shook Dean’s hand and sat down at the computer. 

Dean met Benny his junior year at KU and they’d been friends ever since. 

“Eh,” Dean replied with a shrug that caused the back of his skimpy paper gown to uncover more of his bare ass. He shifted to adjust the sheet draped over his lap. “Getting older. Aches and pains aren’t going away as fast as they used to. Got a few more gray hairs and wrinkles.” 

Benny chuckled and scratched at his own salt-and-pepper beard. 

Dean cleared his throat awkwardly before continuing. “Seem to be going through...you know…the change...” 

His doctor nodded as he started typing notes into the charting system. “Forty-one is a little early for menopause, but not unheard of, ‘specially if it runs in the family. What symptoms are you experiencin’?” 

“Hot flashes, weight gain, tiredness, bloating, haven’t had a heat since summer.” Dean paused before rushing through “Sexisuncomfortablewithoutartificialslick.” 

He may have come to terms with letting one of his closest friends stick things in places only his alpha usually had access to, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t embarrassing to admit something so intimate. 

“Hmm,” the omega doctor responded with a nod. “Sounds like you could be in pre-menopause, so I’ll run some extra tests to see what your hormone levels are. It’s probably too early for hormone replacement therapy, but we can figure out what supplements will help with the symptoms.” 

The doctor poked and prodded Dean before reassuring him that he was as healthy as a male omega in his early 40s should be. After dressing and making an appointment for next year, Dean left the office with a handful of pamphlets and an invitation to poker night on Friday with some of their college buddies. 

***** 

A week later, Dean got a call from Dr. Lafitte’s office asking him and his husband to come in for the results of his blood work. 

They sat in the waiting room the next afternoon. It hadn’t taken long for Dean to convince himself that he had cancer and was going to die and would never see Claire graduate college or have her own babies, and his internal panic was only growing the longer they waited for the nurse to call them back. Cas kept one of the Dean’s hands sandwiched between his, stroking over his knuckles with his thumb. 

After an excruciatingly long five minutes, they were ushered back to Benny’s office where the doctor was already waiting for them. He smiled, big and genuine, as soon as they entered. 

“Congrats, fellas! You’re havin’ another baby!” 

“Wait, what?” Dean sat down heavily in one of the visitor’s chairs in front of the doctor’s desk. Cas followed suit in the other chair. 

“Early pregnancy symptoms can sometimes be confused for early menopause symptoms in middle-aged omegas, especially if their heat-cycles start to become irregular,” Benny explained. “You probably got pregnant a day or so before your heat was going to start. Do you remember feeling any heat symptoms?” 

“I don’t think so,” Dean replied shaking his head. 

Cas spoke up. “Back in September when Claire went back to campus after fall break, I thought you smelled like your heat was about the start, but it only lasted for a couple of hours.” 

“Oh, yeah.” He blushed when he remembered how they didn’t even bother taking clothes off to go at each other as soon as Claire’s Jeep disappeared down the road. He also remembered that he’d been slick enough to not need extra lube. He hadn’t felt a heat coming on, but Cas had always been better at scenting Dean’s oncoming heats hours before the first fever wave started. 

Benny chuckled and redirected the conversation. “Now, I don’t want to worry you, but I’m gonna refer you to Lisa Braden. She specializes in high risk pregnancies. I do this for all of my pregnant patients who are over 35. The vast majority have completely normal pregnancies that end with completely healthy babies, but there is a higher chance of complications, so we monitor parent and baby a little more closely.” 

Cas looked at Dean before taking his hand again and leaning forward. “What are some complications?” 

“Same ones for any pregnancy, high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, multiples, certain birth defects, premature birth. With closer monitoring, we can head off some of them. We’ll get you started on folic acid today and I have some meal planning information for you. Lay off the caffeine and alcohol. You’ll need to watch your weight really close. You need to gain a healthy amount of weight, but too much could signal a problem, especially if it happens too fast or you can’t attribute it to an increase in caloric intake. But,” he paused noticing that the alpha-omega couple were getting anxious looks on their faces and smiled. “For now, just enjoy the good news and follow me next door so we can get our first look at your baby.” 

Dean numbly followed Benny out of the office and into the exam room where an ultrasound machine was set up. Cas stayed close, keeping his hand in Dean’s. It’d been nineteen years since he was last pregnant, and he’d completely forgotten everything about being pregnant other than at times it was the best thing ever and at other times the worst. His memories of Claire’s birth were equally hazy; it was long and exhausting, but at the end he had a warm, snuggly newborn who smelled like apple pie - the best parts of him and Cas. 

The paper covering on the exam table crinkled as Dean stretched out and unbuttoned his jeans. At least he now had a better excuse for why his pants were tighter other than _I ate way too many leftovers after Thanksgiving_. 

Benny pressed a wand covered in cold gel into Dean’s lower abdomen just above his pelvis. Within just a few seconds, a lima bean shaped blob appeared on the black and white screen. “Gentlemen, there’s your baby.” 

The sudden uncertainty that came with the news that he was pregnant faded away in an instant and Dean smiled at the screen before looking up at his misty-eyed alpha. Cas sniffled and leaned down to kiss Dean. 

“Looks like you’re about 10 weeks along, which lines up with what you said about the pre-heat back in September.” Benny scrutinized the image on the screen for another minute before hitting a button on the keyboard to make some printouts. Then he wiped off Dean’s belly with a paper towel. “Everything looks the way it’s supposed to. I’ll send my notes, your blood work, and these images over to Dr. Braden and Casey’ll get an appointment set up for you before you leave today. We’ll try to get you in with Lisa next week or the following week at the latest.” 

Dean hopped down from the table and refastened his jeans before pulling Benny into a big hug. “Thanks, man.” 

The doctor laughed and patted Dean’s back. “No problem, brother. If you need anything, just let me know.” 

***** 

Christmas break started off with a sleepover. Claire brought Patience, Kaia, and their new friend Alex home and immediately took over the entire house except for the master bedroom. Alex was only over for two days because she couldn’t get a flight home to Boston until after the dorms closed for the holidays. Patience stayed until Alex left, for logistical reasons – it was easier to make plans if she was already there with everybody and not at her house half a mile away. 

Dean’s only pregnancy-related complaint so far was how easily he got tired, especially since he couldn’t get a boost of energy from a shot of caffeine. Claire called him an old man whenever she caught him napping in random places, though she did so with the utmost affection. His only bout of morning sickness had been the morning of Thanksgiving, for which he was supremely grateful. 

They were planning to tell Claire about the pregnancy over Christmas break, but hadn’t quite figured out when to do it. They definitely didn’t want to make the announcement with a houseful of college girls in attendance, but weren’t sure what to do when Patience and Alex left and Kaia was still around. Kaia was a new enough friend that she’d probably be uncomfortable to witness such an intimate family moment, but they didn’t want to call Claire off by herself, leaving Kaia quite obviously alone. And, they really wanted to let Claire know before Christmas so that they could share the news with everybody else at Christmas. 

The perfect moment came the day after Alex and Patience’s departure and three days before Christmas. Dean was up early making a holiday breakfast feast when Claire was the first person enticed downstairs by the smell of bacon. She sidled up next to him at the stove with her hands wrapped around a large steaming mug of coffee. Still half asleep, she squinted at the eggs in the frying pan, looking so much like Cas before his morning coffee. 

“Morning, Claire-bear,” Dean said quietly. 

“Mornin, Pop’,” she mumbled before taking a sip of her drink. 

Dean pushed the eggs around in the pan for a few seconds before asking, “How would you feel if we added another person to the Christmas gift list next year?” 

She furrowed a brow. “Another person? We already added Kaia this year.” 

“Yeah, there’s a new person.” 

“New person? Somebody we know?” 

“Not yet.” 

“Who?” 

“Your new baby brother or sister.” 

Claire blinked. “Wait. What?” 

Nobody could argue that Claire Novak-Winchester was anybody else’s daughter. 

Dean laughed. “I’m pregnant.” 

“Oh my God, Dad!” she shrieked, suddenly 100% awake. She set her coffee down, sloshing some onto the counter, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, squeezing him tightly and bouncing up and down on her toes. 

Cas came around the corner, sporting a wild bedhead and squinting like he was ready to smite the world for existing. “Did you tell her?” 

Claire hopped over from Dean to Cas, giving him an equally enthusiastic hug. 

Dean grinned as he turned off the burner and brought the pan of eggs over to the waiting plates. “Yeah. I told her.” 

Cas’s face softened into a smile as he hugged their daughter until she suddenly pushed him away and looked at both of them with teenaged disgust. 

“Oh, gross. You guys have been doing the nasty while I’ve been away!” 

Dean and Cass both laughed as Kaia came into the kitchen. “What’s going on?” 

“These two have been up to no good while I’ve been studying my brains out at school.” 

Kaia raised a brow. 

“My old dads are gonna have a baby.” 

“Uh...congrats?” 

***** 

Christmas was very merry indeed when Dean and Cas shared their good news with the rest of the family. 

***** 

Dean turned 42 on January 24. 

Claire turned 19 on February 8. 

Dean felt the baby move for the first time on February 11. 

***** 

One morning in late February, Dean woke up in a pool of sweat with a slick ass and a hard cock pressed to his outwardly curving belly. He waited an hour to see if it was just night sweats and morning wood before calling his husband at the police station to ask if he could come back home. 

When Cas returned still wearing his badge and shoulder holster, Dean dropped to his knees on the foyer rug and presented his rosy, freckled, bare ass up to his alpha. Cas tried to take off his gun and put it on the catch-all table, but Dean growled at him to leave it. 

Dean was in pseudo-heat, which wasn’t uncommon during pregnancy. However, it became concerning when it didn’t go away after 24 hours. While normal heats could easily last up to a week, pseudo-heats weren’t supposed to longer than a few hours and weren’t supposed to be as intense. Dean barely got half-hour breaks between waves, and the waves were only abated after being knotted. He was leaking so much slick and sweating so much that Cas was having a hard time keeping him hydrated. 

The next morning Cas loaded Dean into the Impala and drove him to the emergency room at Lawrence Memorial, calling Dr. Braden on the way. 

Luckily, their doctor was the OB on call, so she was already at the hospital and was able to get Dean transferred directly to the antepartum unit, bypassing the chaos and mélange of scents in the ED. Within an hour of arrival, Dean was hooked up to an IV rehydrating him and pumping him full of synthetic alpha hormones to bring him out of heat. Cas was stretched out on the bed with him, letting Dean scent his neck to trick his brain into thinking the synthetic alpha hormones running through his veins were actually coming from his mate instead of a plastic bag. 

After a couple of hours to allow the omega and alpha to calm down, Dr. Braden stopped by to give them an update. 

“Hey, guys. So, that was pretty rough, but your labs are looking much better than they did when you first got here. The syntheds are working like they’re supposed to. Dean, you’re really dehydrated, so I’m going to keep you here overnight and possibly tomorrow to make sure we get you fully rehydrated. We’ll see in the morning. If it’s ok with you, I can go ahead and perform the amniocentesis we have scheduled for your next appointment.” 

“Yeah, that’s fine,” he agreed. He’d lost count of how many times he’d been stuck with a needle since he’d gotten to the hospital. A few more weren’t going to hurt…much. 

A nurse brought in the portable ultrasound machine and a cart of supplies, and then raised the bed for the procedure. Cas remained by Dean’s side, holding his hand and carefully watching over everything the doctor and nurse did. As Dr. Braden was moving the ultrasound wand around to pinpoint where the baby was so that she could decide where to take the sample from, she smiled. “Do you want to know the sex?” 

The couple looked at each other and Dean gave a tiny smile. ”Yeah.” 

The doctor pointed at a very specific spot on the screen and Cas deadpanned, “That’s a penis.” 

Dean laughed and some of the tension from the last day finally dissolved. They were having a boy. 

After the sample was taken and the couple was alone again, Dean curled up around his belly under a pile of scentless blankets to finally get some sleep while Cas made calls to update the family on Dean’s condition. They wouldn’t know the results of the amniocentesis until their appointment later in the week, but for now Dean was out of the woods and recovering. 

***** 

Dean still wasn’t used to how old he felt compared to the other expectant omegas in the waiting room at Dr. Braden’s practice. While she specialized in high risk and older omegas, her partners were general OBs and their patients tended to look closer in age to Claire than to Dean. 

The nurse called him and Cas back where she took his vital signs, weighed him, and then brought in the phlebotomist to draw blood. Luckily, they didn’t have wait long before Dr. Braden swept into the exam room. 

“Feeling better?” she asked with a gentle smile. 

“Much better,” Dean confirmed, nodding. 

“Good.” She helped Dean lean back on the exam table and palpated his belly before using a fetoscope to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. “Everybody excited that this little guy is a boy?” 

Cas smiled. “Yeah. He’s going to be my mom’s first grandson. Her other grands are all girls.” 

“Have you thought of a name yet?” She helped Dean sit up again, and then washed her hands at the sink and dried them with a paper towel. 

“Jack,” Dean replied smoothing his red henley over his belly. 

“Sweet name.” Dr. Braden nodded and gestured for them to follow her over to her office. Once they were settled in the chairs and Dean’s hand was firmly clamped between Cas’s, she opened a folder on her desk. “I have the results of your amniocentesis. Jack is doing very well. He’s hitting all the right growth markers and the pseudo-heat hasn’t had any immediate effect on him. However, his secondary gender hormone levels aren’t where they should be for his gestational age. His estrogen is too low for an omega and his testosterone is too low for an alpha.” 

“What does that mean?” asked Cas. 

“There’s a high chance that Jack could be a beta. We won’t know for sure until he’s born. His hormone levels might come up by then, but they probably won’t.” 

Betas weren’t common, occurring in about 1 out of 700 births. They had only a primary gender and couldn’t go into heat or rut. Neither male nor female betas could carry a child, but male betas had a small chance of being able to father children with an omega mate. Because they lacked a secondary gender, betas didn’t produce a scent and couldn’t scent bond with their family, friends, or a mate. Their sense of smell was also diminished. Because of the inability to scent other people, they were often socially awkward due to not being able to read scent cues. 

Dean blinked several times trying to form some sort of response. He finally settled on asking, “But he’s healthy, right?” 

Dr. Braden gave him a reassuring smile. “Yes. There is nothing to indicate that you won’t have a healthy, full-term newborn come July.” 

“Ok,” Dean nodded, looked to Cas, and nodded again. “Ok.” 

***** 

That night they clung to each other in bed without saying anything. 

***** 

Spring came. 

Claire, Kaia, and Patience helped get the nursery ready over spring break. They had so much fun running around Babies R Us and Target with gift registry guns. Since Dean and Cas had handed down or donated most of Claire’s baby stuff years ago and only kept the most sentimental things, which also happened to be pretty girly, they needed to restock everything. Their friends and family were in the same stage of parenthood, so there wasn’t much that could be handed down to them for the new baby. 

Dean and Cas were holding out hope that Jack’s secondary gender would present when he was born, but Dean had joined an online support forum of parents of betas and Cas was looking into the types of occupational and social therapy would be available to get Jack ready for kindergarten, just in case. 

Jack continued to thrive. Dean was convinced that he would grow up to be an Olympic gymnast with all the feats of in-utero acrobatics he performed on a daily, mostly hourly, basis. They’d gotten to witness some of those somersaults visually on the ultrasound screen. He responded to voices when somebody spoke close to Dean’s belly and seemed to like Cas’s deep rumble the best. 

Claire came home in mid-May after successfully completing her freshman year at KU. She’d been on the dean’s list both semesters. Kaia and Alex had gotten an apartment for the summer. It would be the first permanent home Kaia had since she was 6. Alex was taking summer classes at Kansas City Kansas Community College to get more of her general education course requirements out of the way before she started nursing school in the fall. Patience and Claire were planning to move into the apartment sometime before fall classes started. Patience was thinking about moving back early, but Claire wanted to be home to help out after Jack was born. 

In June, friends and family threw Dean a shower. There were even more people at their house than there had been at Thanksgiving, but the weather was pleasant enough so that a large portion of them could spill out onto the backyard. Dean sat under the big blue deck umbrella in a comfortably padded chair with Cas and Claire taking turns bringing him munchies and drinks. There was a mix of family, friends, and coworkers, including more than one uniformed officer from the police station who stopped by either on their way on duty or off. They were more than happy to drop off a baby gift for their lieutenant and CSI supervisor and grab a cupcake with sky blue icing. 

Claire had gotten a summer internship at the police station, so she went to work with Dean or Cas every day depending on who worked the day shift. She was leaning towards a criminal justice degree, but wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted to do with it. She liked the hands-on lab work that Dean did, but she also liked solving puzzles like Cas and his detectives did. On the days that she shadowed the CSI techs under Dean’s supervision, the two of them would spend the afternoons on the couch binge watching their favorite tv shows with the occasional MCU movie thrown in for variety. Cas caught them both crying over Lady Sybil’s death one rainy Tuesday afternoon during their Downton Abbey marathon. The three of them spent that night curled up together in Dean and Cas’s bed. 

***** 

The Fourth of July was spent as usual. The entire extended family and most of their friends headed out to John and Kate’s farm for a big barbeque potluck and fireworks display. John and Bobby argued over how to get the antique steam engine working to power the ice cream maker. Eileen and Mary manned the grill and smoker. Sam supervised the kids as they took turns riding the farm’s two horses. Cas took up lifeguard duty at the swimming hole. 

After eating way too many ribs, Dean headed inside the empty farm house to lay down on the couch and wallow in self-pity. He was suffering from the third-semester trifecta: heartburn, back ache, and Braxton-Hicks contractions. A huge sweating tumbler half full of ice water sat on the coffee table within his reach. 

“Hey, Pop, you ok?” Claire called out as she let the kitchen’s screen door bang closed behind her. 

“Yeah, Jack’s just laying funny on my spine.” He stuffed another pillow behind his lower back. 

“I brought you some ice cream.” 

“Ooo, finally.” He made grabby hands towards the bowl she carried. “What flavor did they decide on?” 

“Vanilla, but I put hot fudge and Andes mints on it for you,” she replied handing him the paper bowl and a plastic spoon. 

“I love you,” he purred stabbing the mound of ice cream. 

“Are you talking to me or the ice cream?” 

Dean stuffed the spoon in his mouth and rolled his eyes in an exaggerated show of ecstasy before answering, “Yes.” 

Claire snorted. “Alright then. I’ll leave you two alone.” 

He only managed a couple of spoonfuls before deciding to not overdo it any more than he already had. He set the bowl on the table next to his water glass, and then settled back into the couch rubbing his belly. “You’ll help me eat ice cream next year, right buddy?” 

Jack stretched out an arm or leg in reply. 

***** 

The next morning, Claire gagged over her pancakes when Dean casually let Cas know that he’d seen his bloody show when he was drying off from the shower earlier. 

“I’m adopting,” she proclaimed as she dumped her half-eaten breakfast in the trash. 

Dean laughed and called into the station to say he was starting his paternity leave. 

***** 

His contractions started shortly after lunch. 

Dean was very glad he decided to call out of work early. 

***** 

Having two alphas watching him like a hawk was absolutely insufferable. He could deal with Cas, who was calm and unobtrusively supportive, but Claire had turned into a nervous wreck, jumping at every twitch when he tried to get comfortable. He called Patience and asked her to keep his daughter entertained away from home until midnight or until they went to the hospital, whichever happened first. 

At 11:42pm, Dean’s water broke. 

Cas collected their bags while Dean called Dr. Braden, and then he helped his laboring husband to car. They picked up Claire on the way to the hospital. 

By 2am, Dean was in so much pain that he asked for and was given an epidural. Relief was complete and immediate. He heaved a big sigh and relaxed back in the bed for the first time that night. Within an hour, the three Novak-Winchesters were fast asleep in the darkened hospital room, Dean and Cas spooned together on the bed and Claire curled up in the recliner. 

Their nurse for the night was a curly haired brunette named Meg, who was so stealthy that she managed to do hourly checks on Dean without waking him up. One of the alphas in the room would open their eyes to watch her work, but they never spoke and she was never quite sure they were truly awake. 

At her 6am check, she gently nudged Dean awake. “Hey there, handsome. Doc Braden’s on her way up to check your cervix. I’ve been watching your contractions on the monitor and the duration between them has been getting shorter over the last half hour. If you’re not fully dilated yet, you will be really soon.” 

Dean rubbed his eyes, wincing when the motion pulled at the IV in his arm. He laid a hand on his belly and felt it tense with a contraction. 

Dr. Braden walked in, pulling on gloves. “Morning, everybody! Let's see how things have progressed.” 

Meg helped position Dean so that the doctor could check him. Cas went over to Claire, gently stroking hair out of her sleeping face to wake her. 

“Good job, Dean. You’re right at nine centimeters. I’ll give it another hour. Since you have an epidural you won’t feel the urge to push, but you might start to feel pressure if your body starts pushing on its own. If you feel that pressure, hit the call button, ok?” 

“Ok,” he said, still sleepy and not quite processing what was going on as fast as he normally would. 

“You guys should probably start calling the family to get here, if you want them here soon after Jack arrives.” 

“Will he get to stay with us?” Dean took a sip of water from the Styrofoam cup that Meg handed him. 

“Barring any complications that pop up at the last minute, all of the tests and procedures we need to do with him will be done right here. We’ll even try to leave him skin-to-skin with you.” She pulled off her gloves and tossed them in the trash before turning to the pair of half-awake alphas. “You two should eat something before the show starts. We don’t need any fainting alphas in the room.” 

Cas kissed Claire’s cheek before heading down to the hospital café for some coffees and pastries. Claire climbed in bed next to Dean after the room cleared out. 

“Does it hurt?” she asked as she placed her hand on his belly. 

He covered her hand with his. “Nope, but it’s really weird not being able to feel anything below my waist.” 

Beneath their hands, his belly hardened. They watched the clock together and timed the contraction at a full minute. He had two more minute-long contractions before Cas returned with breakfast. 

“I called your mom, my mom, and Sam while I was waiting in line. They said they’ll call everybody to let them know Jack is on his way, and then head right over. Do you want any of them in the room?” Cas asked as he settled on Dean’s free side, being very careful of the IV line and monitor leads. 

“No, just you and Claire.” They had already asked their daughter if she wanted to be in the room when Jack was born. When she said yes, they cautioned her about what could potentially happen, but she was adamant about being present when their family of three officially became a family of four. 

The alphas had just finished their muffins and coffees when Meg returned with an older nurse. 

“Hey, gang. I’m finishing up my shift and wanted to personally hand you off to Missouri. If I were ever to squeeze out my own kid, I’d want her with me. Missouri, this is Dean, his husband Cas, and their daughter Claire. They’re having a little boy named Jack. They’re with Dr. Braden, who should be coming back shortly. Dean was at nine centimeters about an hour ago.” She led the other nurse over to the computer to go over the battery of extra tests that had been ordered for the newborn. 

The two nurses were still quietly conversing when Dean felt something change. “Uh, Meg. I think something is happening.” 

“Ok, I’ll let Missouri have a look.” 

Missouri pulled a pair of gloves from the box on the wall and snapped them on while Meg came over to the side of the bed that Claire hurriedly vacated to help maneuver Dean into position. 

“100% effaced and fully dilated. Baby’s right there,” Missouri announced with a grin. 

Meg pushed the call button and asked for Dr. Braden to be paged before starting to break down the bed for delivery. 

Missouri looked up at the laboring omega. “We’re going to start you off in the stirrups. The epidural limits you a little bit in how you can push, but there are a few other positions we can try if this one doesn’t work well for you or the baby. You won’t feel an urge to push, so we’re going to watch the monitor and tell you when to push. You’ll push to the count of ten, take a breath, and push for another count. Then you’ll rest between each contraction.” 

Dean nodded and rubbed his belly. He was both excited to get this long process over and apprehensive about what waited at the end. 

Suddenly, the air in the room turned very business-like. Dr. Braden entered the room wearing blue scrubs and tying on a mask. A three-person team from the NICU walked in behind her and prepped their supplies by the warmer in the corner. Meg said her goodbyes as she tagged out with another nurse who helped Missouri get Dean legs in the stirrups. Cas and Claire took up their posts on either side of the bed, each holding one of Dean’s hands. Cas reached over the top of the bed to take Claire’s other hand, giving her a reassuring squeeze. 

Dr. Braden wheeled a short stool over and settled down between Dean’s spread legs. She smiled up at him from behind her mask. “Ready?” 

He glanced over to Claire, then to Cas, and finally back to his doctor. “Ready.” 

“We’re just waiting for this contraction to peak.” 

The whole room seemed to hold its breath until Missouri nodded from where she was watching the readout from fetal monitor. 

“Ok, Dean. Bare down like you’re having a bowel movement. I’ll start counting once I feel you pushing.” 

It took a few seconds of Dean trying to figure out how to get his body to comply with the command before Dr. Braden started counting. 

“...six...seven...eight...nine...ten. Great push, Dean. Take a breath and do that again.” 

Dean took a deep breath and felt the two alphas on either side of him do the same. 

“...eight...nine...ten. Good job. It may have been 19 years since Claire was born, but your body remembers what to do,” she said encouragingly. 

Cas beamed over at Claire, who smiled timidly back. 

It went this way for nearly an hour. 

“You are doing an amazing job, Dean, but I don’t think this position is working for you. We’re going to get the stirrups out of the way and put up a horizontal bar for you to hang on to. I think your hips will open up better if you’re squatting. I’m also going to turn down the medicine in your epidural so you get a little bit of feeling back. You’ll be able to feel and work with the pressure.” 

They paused to put away the stirrups and set up the support bar while Dr. Braden adjusted the IV pump. It only took a couple of minutes for some feeling to return to Dean’s lower half. The pain and discomfort were noticeable, but muted. Missouri unhooked the fetal monitor. The other nurse helped him up into a squat and instructed Cas and Claire how to support him in that position since his legs were still mostly numb. 

“Oh, wow. Lot of pressure,” Dean said as the next contraction began. 

“Good, go ahead and work with it. I won’t count unless you want me too.” 

Closing his eyes, Dean shook his head and pushed. There was a big difference now that he could actually feel what was going on. It didn’t exactly hurt, but it was uncomfortable. 

“Yes, perfect,” Dr. Braden said as she motioned for Missouri to hand her something from the cart. “Hey, Dean? Open your eyes and look down here.” 

Dean blew out a breath and opened his eyes to see his swollen junk reflected up at him. Furrowing a brow, it took him a second to realize what he was looking at. 

“Dad! It’s Jack’s head!” Claire exclaimed, getting the same view as Dean. 

“Oh,” he huffed out with a smile as Cas leaned over to kiss his cheek. 

Another contraction started and Dean curled into his belly, staring intently at the teardrop that was the top of his son’s head bulging out further as he pushed. When the contraction was over and he stopped pushing, the little sliver of scalp retreated back to where it had been. 

“What happened?” Claire asked, confused. “It went back in.” 

“That’s what it’s been doing for the last half hour.” 

“Is it ok?” Concerned, Claire watched her dad who had closed his eyes to rest while her other dad mopped his brow with a cool, wet washcloth. 

“Yeah,” Dr. Braden said handing the mirror to Missouri and scooting the stool over to give the nurse some room. “Babies sometimes play peekaboo for a little while. The mirror will help your dad focus while he pushes.” 

Dean opened his eyes as the next contraction started. Now that he was pushing on his own, he was using all of his concentration. The room, nurses, and NICU team faded far into the background. He could hear Dr. Braden calmly explaining what was going on to Claire and reassuring her that everything happening was good and normal. 

“You’re doing so well, sweetheart,” Cas whispered encouragingly into his ear as he massaged the back of Dean’s neck. 

“Ow, ow, ow,” Dean complained, pushing hard enough to get past the point where he’d been stuck for so long. It didn’t hurt too bad, but he couldn’t help automatically reacting to the painful stretch he was seeing with his own eyes. 

“Don’t stop, Dean.” Dr. Braden held a towel against his perineum to help prevent it from tearing. 

He took a quick breath, gripped the bar tight, and pushed until Jack’s head popped free with a gush of fluid. Everybody near the bed cheered. 

Panting from exertion, Dean watched in the mirror as Dr. Braden slid slim fingers around Jack’s neck pulling two loops of his cord free. He barely noticed the other nurse unsnapping the shoulders of his gown to prepare for skin-to-skin contact. 

The doctor caught his look of concern. “He’s ok. It’s not tight. I delivered twins last week and one of them had tied his cord in a knot.” 

Slowly the baby’s head rotated to the side. He flexed his neck and smacked his little plump lips. Dean grinned tiredly at the sight before he felt another contraction start. 

“Gentle push now and we’ll have a baby.” 

Dean inhaled deeply and Jack slid out into Dr. Braden’s hands on the exhale. The nurses immediately helped Dean back on the bed and pulled down the support bar while the doctor very quickly cleared the baby’s airways with a bulb syringe before putting him down on Dean’s bare belly. After a pitiful little hiccup, the new baby let out a healthy cry. 

Dean sobbed as soon as he got his hands on his son, but he only had a moment to process that he was finally holding Jack outside of his body before the NICU team swooped in to start their tests and procedures. Cas and Claire were ushered off to the side of the room out of the way, but true to Dr. Braden’s word nobody took the baby away from Dean. It was hard for the two alphas to be physically removed from their omega, but they found comfort in each other. 

Jack had his vitals taken, was rubbed dry, had his head covered with a little blue knit hat, and had his heel pricked for blood tests. The whole time he was being touched and moved around by strangers, he didn’t take his eyes off Dean. Dean’s eyes flitted between the baby, the NICU team, and his husband and daughter trying to take it all in. 

After a few minutes, Dr. Braden instructed Dean to push again to deliver the placenta. Once the placenta had been checked over, the baby’s cord was clamped and the doctor handed the scissors to Cas. The alpha brought their daughter close so that they could both snip the cord. 

Babies on instinct climbed up their omega’s torso to get to the scent gland in their necks and begin to scent them locking the parent-child bond in place. The whole team waited with baited breath for Jack to start moving, but he didn’t. He laid stiff and fidgety on Dean’s belly. The initial joy of a smooth birth quickly faded to the realization that Jack couldn’t scent Dean. After another tense moment passed, Dean finally pulled Jack up to his neck and ran his nose along one tiny ear. He closed his eyes against the flood of tears that sprung up when he realized his new baby didn’t smell like him or Cas. 

***** 

Jack was a healthy, full-term newborn. 

He was a beta. 

He wouldn’t be able to scent bond with his fathers and big sister. 

Dean was broken. 

***** 

48 hours later they went home. 

Dean wanted nothing more than to spend all day cuddled up in bed with Jack. That was how he spent the first few days at home with Claire, only putting her down when his alpha convinced him to take a shower or pouted and accused Dean of hogging their daughter all to himself. 

He spent hours skin-to-skin with Jack, trying so hard to feel something for his son, but the connection just wasn’t there. Holding Jack was like holding a stranger’s kid. The baby was stiff as though he didn’t recognize his own omega and only relaxed fully when he was asleep. He fidgeted and whined whenever Dean instinctively tried to snuggle him close to his neck. Alpha and omega babies loved being able to breathe in familial scent, but Jack seemed to hate being so close. He was most content laying in Dean’s lap, staring up at him. 

He tried to put on a good face, to power through the sadness, but by the end of the first week, he just didn’t have the energy to keep going. He didn’t completely abandon Jack, but he did let Cas and Claire look after the baby more than he would have had he been able to bond with his son. 

Dean heart ached with longing for his baby. The only good thing to come out of their current situation was that the baby couldn’t smell Dean’s despair. 

By all measures, Jack was a good baby. He slept well, was easy to rouse if his hungry belly didn’t wake him up first, latched easy, and nursed or took a bottle for 10-15 minutes every two hours. He lost weight as all newborns do in their first week of life, but was several ounces over his birth weight by the end of the second week at his first well-baby visit to the doctor. 

On the advice of Jack’s pediatrician, Cas and Claire tag-teamed taking care of Jack and Dean. While one was feeding the baby a bottle, the other would be curled up in bed letting Dean scent. The two alphas slept most nights on either side of Dean with Jack closeby in the bassinet. The more time they all spent with Jack, the more their scents would rub off on him, which helped Dean stand to nurse him a couple of times a day instead of relying solely on pumped milk. 

***** 

Claire was on baby duty one afternoon in the living room while her dads were napping upstairs. She held Jack against her shoulder after he finished a bottle, gently rubbing his back until he gave a satisfying burp. 

Grinning, she propped her feet on the coffee table and settled her little brother in his preferred after-meal position on her lap. “Good job, Jack-jack! Bet you feel so much better now, huh?” 

Jack sighed and wiggled as he stared up at her with big blue eyes. 

Usually she avoided the baby’s stare. There was something unnerving about how intently he looked at somebody, like he was trying to see deep into their soul. Most newborns had very hazy eyesight, relying on their sense of smell to identify people, but Jack seemed to see with the clarity of a grown up. 

Now, she stared back, mildly curious to see how long it would take him to blink. 

A minute passed with the siblings eyeing each other. 

Suddenly, Jack’s gaze softened and his body went floppy. His little mouth curved up in the smile of a baby high on familial scent. 

“Holy shit,” she breathed as something tugged in the middle of her chest. She quickly clutched the baby to her shoulder, startling him, and dashed through the house. “Dad! DAD!” 

Dean jerked awake to the sound of Claire thundering up the stairs and Jack wailing. 

“Claire! What’s wrong?” Cas demanded when she burst into the master bedroom. 

“I think we bonded!” she huffed, out of breath with excitement as she handed the baby over to Dean. 

“How?” He cradled the upset baby close to his chest, trying desperately to soothe him. 

“By sight. I think that’s why he’s been staring at us so much.” She leaned close and gently stroked Jack’s cheek to get his attention. 

“We’ve all looked at him ever since he was born,” Dean said, despondently. 

“Yeah, but not uninterrupted eye contact.” 

Dean looked up at Cas who shrugged. Neither the internet nor the pediatrician offered any hope that their beta child would be able to bond with them. 

Jack opened his eyes, mouth drawn up in to an angry pout, but he relaxed a bit when he recognized Claire. She very deliberately slid her eyes over to their omega dad in the hopes that Jack would follow. The baby stared up at Dean, still very mad, and Dean stared back. As the seconds ticked by, Jack’s little face softened, and after a very intense minute, the bond clicked into place. 

Dean started bawling. It felt just like the moment Claire put her nose to his neck for the very first time in the delivery room. All of the love that had been stored up waiting for the bond poured out from the wall it had been locked behind. 

Jack melted in Dean’s arms, breaking eye contact to root against the omega’s chest. Dean wiped at his eyes with his free hand before unbuttoning his shirt. A relief washed over him as Jack latched on to his nipple and began to nurse. Clear blue eyes found his again and the bond bloomed bright in Dean’s chest. His world finally felt...right. 

The three adults watched Jack in stunned silence until Cas moved on the bed to position himself behind Dean so that he could watch the baby over his omega's shoulder. Jack stiffened at the motion, his suckling temporarily pausing until they settled. The baby and alpha made eye contact, and after another long minute, Jack smiled a milky smile as soon as their bond slipped into place. His eyes hungrily wandered between his dads and sister until they started to droop. 

“Wow,” Cas breathed after Jack dozed off. 

“Yeah,” Claire agreed. 

Dean reached out placing his hand on the back of his daughter’s neck to bring her close so that they were forehead to forehead. “Thank you, Claire.” 

She beamed at him through tears. 

***** 

5 years later 

Jack stood on the sidewalk outside of East Lawrence Elementary School fidgeting with the handle of his Spiderman lunchbox. 

“Hey buddy, are you ready to spend the day with Ms. Bradbury and meet all of your classmates?” Dean asked as he and Cas knelt down in front of their son. Claire stood off to the side snapping pictures to document her little brother’s first day of kindergarten. 

Jack squinted at his omega dad and then his alpha dad, taking a moment to draw some courage from their bond. “I think so...” 

He had spent the last year in a social skills therapy program for preschoolers to help him learn how to interact with other kids without being able to scent them. His teachers were optimistic that he would do well in school, especially since he was pretty good at reading and interpreting visual cues. His initial impression of another person was usually spot on, though it took him longer to make it. He would continue the therapy in school during his class’s afternoon center time. 

Cas laid a hand Jack’s shoulder. “If you need any help, just ask Ms. Bradbury, ok?” 

The little beta nodded before throwing both skinny arms around his dads’ necks, drawing them in close so that they could scent his neck and he could scent theirs. There was no true scenting going on, but the learned action had become therapeutic for all of them. Then he sprinted off towards the building not bothering to wait for his family. 

Claire chuckled as she approached her dads. “He beaned you with his lunch box, didn’t he?” 

Wincing, Dean rubbed the back of his head. “Yep.” 

“We’d better go find him before he ends up in the wrong classroom,” Cas said with a smile as he stood up and held his hand out to Dean. 

They headed into the building on the lookout for a familiar short blond head. 

“You two aren’t going to ‘take advantage’ of the empty house now that Jack’s in school all day, are you?” Claire asked with a smirk. 

Dean shrugged. “We might.” 

“But, we will use protection,” Cas promised. 

“Gross.” Claire made a face as she hurried ahead to redirect Jack as he headed into one of the 5th grade classrooms. 

Dean just looked at Cas and grinned.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! :)


End file.
